Are You Building Career Capital?

As coaches, we make the continuous mistake of trying to impress other coaches with our "training knowledge."

The #1 reason most private sector coaches don't have a long and prosperous career is because...

They lack career capital.

"Following your passion." is terrible career advice. Just because you love training doesn't mean you can make a career out of it. This may be because there is no market for it, or because you haven't built enough career capital to actually be in business. "Career Capital Theory:" people work long and hard to acquire rare and valuable skills (don't forget Malcom Gladwell's 10,000-Hour Theory) that give them more and more control over their careers by making them coveted and/or indispensable in their field of study. This control doesn't just afford them more compensation and flexible schedules, but also enables them to gradually test the waters to determine whether one specific avenue or "niche" is best for long-term career satisfaction.

This is a stark contrast to the fitness industry, where many coaches have lost their life savings opening gyms because they enjoyed exercise - but didn't have the rare and valuable skills required to be successful in the fitness industry.

It leads to the question: why are some people very successful in the fitness industry - even with mid-life career change - while others fail miserably? What are the "rare and valuable skills" that allow them to succeed?

Here is a quick story of how this pertains to me and I didn't even know it. Growing up, I was a psychology major. I didn't even want to be in the fitness industry.

I played basketball in college, and like most coach stories, I got hurt. I would read about how to regain my health and performance. This began my pursuit of sports performance. Unbeknownst to me, I landed an internship at Joe Defranco's gym and then Varsity House where I am now.

Over the subsequent few years, I trained as many people - athletes and non-athletes alike - as I could possibly fit into my schedule. I honed my skill set, learned about what I enjoyed the most, gradually created more and more autonomy in my schedule, became financially stable, and recognized a sustainable, underserved population where I had unique expertise. Without even recognizing it, I had built career capital and started to "purchase" the coaching life I wanted.

In the realm anatomy, biomechanics, and programming - most coaches don't have a defined system that is a compilation of all the information they consume. This "system" is battle tested with your clients. This is where you can write, speak, and present for years because of how well you know it, but most importantly, how well it works. I encourage you to think about what are you doing to move the needle of your career forward?